In 2024, foreign tourists began to book New Year’s trips to Russia more often than a year earlier: travel demand increased by 2-3 times due to tourists from China and Arab countries, tour operators told RBC . According to their data, already in October-November there were no places left for the New Year in quality hotels in the center of Moscow, despite the fact that winter is considered a low season for inbound tourism in Russia.
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Intourist noted that tour sales for the New Year holidays in December 2024 almost tripled compared to the same month in 2023. Tour operator Space Travel sold twice as many tours as last year. Tari Tour sold 40% more trips to Russia for the New Year holidays than in 2023.
Tour operator Svoy TS’s travel demand in December increased by 70% to 80% compared to last year. The general director of the company, Sergei Voitovich, explained this trend by the low base for 2023 and the almost complete lack of demand due to the coronavirus pandemic and the difficult international situation.
“Front desk operators now have to go to extraordinary lengths to find available rooms for important dates. In St. Petersburg, all popular hotels in the premium price segment were booked in the fall,” said General Director of Travel Arthur Muradyan.
Foreign tourists are especially interested in guided tours of Moscow (80% of bookings) and St. Petersburg, private excursions and tours of military equipment. Moscow continues to occupy first place among tourist destinations in Russia. Intourist added that in winter trips to Murmansk are popular among foreigners, in particular, together with a visit to St. Petersburg.
Most of the time, foreigners come from the Middle East and China. For some tour operators, up to 90% of inbound traffic comes from the UAE; This popularity is explained by the development of air traffic between countries and the visa-free regime, Muradyan explained.
Travel to Russia is popular with residents of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman; Residents of these countries can obtain an e-visa for Russia in four days. “One in two partners in Oman dream of going to Russia in winter and seeing real snow,” said Intourist representative Daria Domostroeva.
China remains the main supplier of tourist traffic to Russia. From January to September, the Chinese made about 731.8 thousand tourist trips to Russia. This is almost seven times more than in January-September 2023 (105.8 thousand trips). The number of tourist trips from the United Arab Emirates to Russia doubled in nine months of this year, up to 43.2 thousand tourists.
This year’s New Year holidays in Russia will begin on Sunday, December 29, and will last 11 days, until January 8, 2025.
Author:
Mikhail Zelenin
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
